This invention relates generally to probes for detecting radiation, and more particularly to radiation detecting probes for effectuating a biopsy of a portion of the body of a being.
The use of radioactive materials to tag tissue within a patient for effecting its localization and demarcation by radiation detecting devices has been disclosed in the medical literature for at least forty years. Significant developments in the localization and demarcation of tissue bearing radioactive isotope tags for diagnostic and/or therapeutic purposes have occurred since that time.
Thus, it is now becoming an established modality in the diagnosis and/or treatment of certain diseases, e.g., cancer, to introduce monoclonal antibodies tagged with a radioactive isotope (e.g., Indium 111, Technetium 99m, Iodine 123, and Iodine 125) into the body of the patient. Such monoclonal antibodies tend to seek out particular tissue, such as the cancerous tissue, so that the gamma radiation emitted by the isotope can be detected by a hand-held radiation detecting probe. Such a probe is disposed or held adjacent portion of the patient's body where the cancerous tissue is suspected to be in order to detect if any radiation is emanating from that site, thereby indicating that cancerous tissue is likely to be found there.
Prior art, hand-held, radiation detecting probes are commercially available from the assignee of this invention, CareWise Medical Products, Inc. under the trademark ONCOPROBE, and from Neoprobe Corporation under the trademark NEOPROBE 1000. In U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,959,547 and 5,036,201 assigned to the same assignee as this invention there are disclosed hand-held radiation detecting probes having collimating means to establish the field of view of the probe. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,801,803 (Denen et al) there is also disclosed a hand-held radiation detecting probe.
In some medical applications it is desirable to conduct a biopsy of the area identified by the radiation detecting probe as being the source of the radiation, i.e., the cancer site. For example, the institution of treatment with a toxic chemotherapeutic agent usually requires a biopsy of the identified site to assure that cancer cells are, in fact, present at that site. Similarly, Monoclonal antibodies (MoAb) labeled with Technetium-99m or Indium-111 accumulate preferentially in specific cancers. Nonspecific accumulation based on inflammation has been reported in the literature. Thus, biopsy of MoAb sites is frequently necessary for patient management. Biopsy of MoAb accumulation sites is essential to proving the specificity of any experimental MoAb diagnostic or therapeutic drug. The prior art radiation detecting probes while suitable for identifying the location of the radiation site are not conducive to facilitate the effectuation of a biopsy thereat.